Bliss Staple is the founder of OR Collective, a baby and kidswear rental platform built on the belief that parents should not have to choose between good design, practicality and sustainability. Working with cult independent brands, OR Collective makes it easy to rent, wear and rotate children’s clothes, offering the joy of something new without the guilt or the overflowing wardrobes.

We spoke to Bliss about building a business alongside family life, trusting her instincts, redefining success and why moving at your own pace matters more than keeping up.

Tell us a little about what you do and what led you here.

I’m the founder of OR Collective, a baby and kidswear rental platform built around the idea that parents shouldn’t need to choose between good design, practical shopping and sustainability. We work with cult independent brands and make it easier to dress your kids through a simple rent, wear, then rotate model. We aim for the dopamine hit of buying new, without the guilt.

The idea came when I had my daughter. By the time she was six months old, I was already drowning in clothes, and maternity pay definitely wasn’t keeping up with my style choices for her. We aren’t talking designer labels, just cool, well-made pieces from premium brands. Clothes that last, made with organic cotton instead of plastic.

Then came a 2am feeding-time rabbit hole, learning how many baby and children’s clothing items end up in landfill - around 216 million a year in the UK. Suddenly I was deep in one of my obsessions about making change. I couldn’t unsee the problem.

I started scribbling ideas that loosely resembled a business plan and tested it by dropping clothes to friends, my NCT group and parents I’d met on dog walks. Within a week, I was getting messages asking, “How do I get in?” That’s when I realised we were onto something.

What does a typical day look like for you?

There really isn’t one, which is both fun and challenging. In the past week alone, I was in Paris with the brand, then back in London lugging boxes of stock around for an ex-rental pop-up sale. I’m happiest when I can zoom out and think strategically, but the reality is we’re still very hands-on everywhere. I protect around three hours a day for deep work that actually moves us forward. The rest is led by what the business and family need that week.

I love routine, so this has been a big adjustment. But this is what building something bootstrapped looks like — no big team, just rolling your sleeves up and doing what needs to be done. My mornings keep me sane. I’m up before anyone else, hot water with lemon, a quick look at priorities, a shower and a few pages of a book. It’s a small window of calm before the chaos begins.

You’ve seen fashion from very different angles. What did those chapters teach you?

My time at COS, from global womenswear buyer to head of menswear buying, really sharpened my ability to make quick, confident decisions with the customer at the centre. But it also taught me that a decision is only the starting point. How you execute it, and how you communicate the why, is what truly matters.

Co-founding Studio Koter took that learning deeper. It’s very different when the pressure is yours — creatively, financially, emotionally. I learned to trust my judgement, and then either stand by it or learn from it. When it comes to taste, I’ve always had confidence in dressing however I like — sometimes questionable, but always expressive. I really hope I can pass that onto my daughter.

How has motherhood shaped how you define success?

I’m a workaholic by nature. When I’m focused, I’m like a dog with a bone. Motherhood opened up a completely unquantifiable love and a desire to be present for every stage. It’s not always possible. There are periods when I’m busy and drowning in guilt that I’m not present enough at home. But I try. Work pauses between school end and bedtime, and the trade-off is early starts or late nights.

Success for me is building a business I genuinely enjoy, that changes how we consume. But it only counts if I can do that while still having time and presence for my family. I’m still working on it.

What do you wish people understood about building something from scratch?

It’s about grit and perseverance. Things don’t happen overnight, even if it looks that way from the outside. You build slowly, bit by bit. Every mistake leads to a bigger leap forward if you stay focused. When I stop and look back each year, I’m always amazed by how much we’ve actually built.

Where do you find your energy — and what drains it?

I’m an introvert, so my energy comes from being close to home. Time with my family refuels me after intense periods of work, and even a simple dog walk helps. What drains me is being pulled in too many directions, or spending long stretches reacting rather than creating. I do my best work when I have space to think and move with intention. Learning to say no has been a big part of that.

What’s one decision that changed everything?

Leaving my career. I stepped away before OR Collective was financially stable, but juggling a side hustle, a career and a family just didn’t add up. I left feeling genuinely supported, with an open door to return, which gave me the space to fully commit.

The second decision is one I’m still in the middle of. Rental is a hard model to crack, and I’ve always believed it needed to be hybrid — rental at the core, with resale at the end of a garment’s life.

When Bundlee reached out, I knew I had to take a risk. The deal came together in about ten days. It wasn’t easy, but a month in, it’s already clear this was a game-changer for us.

How do you see the future of kidswear rental?

My mission is to reduce waste without compromising on style. But responsibility shouldn’t sit solely with the consumer. Brands have to design with longevity in mind.

We don’t lead loudly with sustainability messaging. A lot of the numbers out there are unproven, and we don’t want to add to the noise. Sustainability should feel easy. Parents should choose OR Collective because they love the clothes and it simplifies their lives — no overflowing wardrobes, no charity shop runs, no haggling over 50p on Vinted.

Rental isn’t mainstream yet, but the families choosing it now are shaping what comes next. Our ambition is not just to lead rental, but to be the go-to destination for the best edit in modern baby and kidswear.

What does balance mean to you right now?

Balance is hard to come by, and i've had to reset my thinking accepting that there are periods when my balance leans more into work , and others when I lean more into family. It feels impossible and overwhelming to constantly balance all areas of your life at once, so its been refreshing to look at it over periods of time and starts to remove the guilt on a daily basis if I haven't been present enough in one area.

And finally, what’s one thing you’d tell other women who are trying to do both: raise a family and a business?

Do it at your pace. And be gentle to yourself. It's intense - you're building a future human and future stability at the same time. You have to make it work for you.

What started as idyllic and a nice idea for a more balanced for me life quickly grew into a serious business and took over so much of my life. I had to remind myself (and still do) that I control the pace. People will always have ideas and comment on how you should do things, but you get to decide what actually matters and what deserves your attention. No-one is in it as much as you!

www.orcollective.co.uk

mother+ MEETS… BLISS STAPLE, FOUNDER OF or collective

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mother+ MEETS… BLISS STAPLE, FOUNDER OF or collective

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